Chop suey
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- This article is about the dish. for the song, see Chop Suey!.
Chop suey (Template:Zh-stp; Jyutping: zaap6 seoi3; Yale: jaāhp seui; literally means mixed pieces; roughly means chopped up odds and ends) is a dish in the style of pseudo-Chinese cuisine. It is said to have been invented in New York on August 29, 1896, by cooks of the Chinese diplomat Li Hongzhang who apparently brought his own cooks with him and ate no Western food, even at banquets in his honor. Li Hongzhang's visit gave a boost to Americanized Cantonese—cuisine.
It is not an authentic Chinese dish and is instead considered typical American Chinese cuisine to the point of being the topic of a song in the musical Flower Drum Song.
Chop Suey is mostly a bland stir-fry vegetable dish, with bits of beef or pork, in a lightly-thickened sauce, and with a dash of soy sauce. Typical ingredients for chop suey are usually local vegetables, cooked to American-style softness, and tend to include:
- bamboo shoots
- bok choy, or its Western equivalent cabbage
- broccoli
- green pepper
- mushrooms
- onion
- sliced Chinese water chestnuts
- snow peas
The origin of Chop Suey
The orgin of Chop Suey was well documented in the 《新大陆游记》 "Travel to the New Continent" written in 1903 by famous Chinese reformer, professor of literature of Tsing Hua Universty, Liang Qichao, who was also the author of the book "Biography of Li Hongzhang", hence Liang's account is authentic. Liang Qichao toured America in 1903, he wrote that the Choy Suey started when Li Hongzhang visited New York and dined in several Chinese restaurants in NY city. Before that time, no American visited China town in NY, after Li's visit, many Americans enquired about the dish Li ate in China town, the restaurant owner answered with "Chop Suey", which was the cantonese prounciation of "杂碎", meaning "a mixture of pieces". After that, "Li Hongzhang Chop Suey" restaruants sprung up all across America, there were three to four hundred Chop Suey restaurants alone in New York city, and there were three thousand people in America made a living by Chop suey, with business totaling several million dollars, "quite a remarkable industry". Liang noted that this was the single greatest contribution of Li Hongzhang to Cantonese cuisine. Liang also remarked that Chop Suey was really not Chinese cuisine, "no Chinese in America ever went to Chop Suey restaurant". Chop Suey still is the Cantonesee pronunciation of "杂碎", clearly indicates its American Cantonese origin.
Chop suey in China
The phrase "杂碎" did not exist in China at the end of 19th century when Li Hongzhang viisted New York City, as a matter of fact, this phrase was not even in 1989 edition of Cihai(辞海). Only in the last fifteen years, the phrase 杂碎 appeared in Chinese language, however it means entirely different thing from Chop Suey.
Literature
- Travel to the New Continent, by Liang Qichao, 1903, Collected Works of Ice Tea House (12 vols), vol 7. 梁启超《饮冰室合集》第7册 《新大陆游记》de:Chop Suey